


The One Where They Text

by thestanceyg



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Meet-Cute, Texting, Wrong number
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-29 10:07:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17806019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thestanceyg/pseuds/thestanceyg
Summary: One night Fitz gets a wrong number text. Things evolve from there.





	The One Where They Text

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dresupi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dresupi/gifts).



> This turned out much longer than anticipated, and, honestly, went a little differently than I imagined as well. I hope you love it anyway!
> 
> Dres, ILYSM,I hope your recovery is going well, and that this helps you pass the time with a smile. (I also hope it was worth the wait.)

The text came at 2 A.M. He was up, so it didn’t wake him, but Fitz was still surprised. _If you are in desperate need of tacos, the roommates have demanded I make some and they can fuck off if they think I won’t invite people I actually like to enjoy them as well._ He looked at his phone, unsure what to make of it. Belatedly, he realized he didn’t recognize the number.

_As much as tacos sound amazing, I think you have the wrong number._ He put his phone to the side and picked back up his soldering iron. He was close to finishing this prototype, and he knew if he could just show it to Professor Lim, he could be excused from the bullshit assignments in the course and be given leave to work on further developing this.

His phone buzzed again. _If you like tacos, you’re invited_. He looked at it and then back over at his project. He chewed his thumb nail a bit while he considered both before picking the phone back up.

_If that’s a real invite, tell me where and I’ll be there. I’ll even bring something. How do you feel about chocolate?_ The reply was quick. _I feel like I’m in love with you random text friend._

_Fitz,_ he replied.

_Fitz, get your ass to 1142 Meckler Street, Apt G._ Their replies were lightning fast, and he wondered if they were cooking while sending them.

_S_ _mall problem. I have no idea where that is._ He pulled his laptop over to him and put in the address. _Actually, I think we might be in different cities,_ he added as the nearest Meckler Street showed up two hours away.

This time there was no quick response, so he went back to his soldering. He carefully finished his lightweight gun that shot bullets that Simmons was designing to release a chemical that would non-lethally knock out the person that had been shot. He wanted to put a hand-print scanner in it like a James Bond movie, but that would have to wait until the next iteration. Right now he was going for light and compact. The sun was coming up when he finally finished. He debated sleeping over breakfast, but he could still feel the high of completing his project coursing through his veins, so her took a shower, threw on a different sweater, and went to meet his friends for breakfast.

* * *

 

His phone buzzed again two days later. _Fitz! I’m so sorry! The roommies stole my phone and then it died and I had a huge test and I’m sorry._ The texts came in quick succession while he walked to his next class.

“Who is it?” Simmons asked.

“Oh,” Fitz said, unsure why he didn’t want to share it was a random wrong number. “Just someone who wants my mechanical engineering notes,” he lied. “Which I will _not_ be giving them." He slid his phone back into his pocket, but he couldn’t forget it was there. When it buzzed again, he pulled it out and shut it off without looking at it, but his mind kept wandering back to it. It practically burned a hole in his thigh as he tried to ignore it and focus on taking notes on advanced mathematics. It was a long hour full of symbols he mechanically copied down. He’d have a late night ahead of him to make up for his lack of attention in class, and for what? A random person that offered him tacos in the middle of the night several days ago? He really must be wanting for some excitement in his life.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt stupid. Why _was_ he so worked up about a wrong number text? Why did he care that some random person accidentally invited him over for tacos instead of their friend. The more he considered how lame he sounded, the more he started to hate the phone burning a hole in his pocket. He focused on class. He wasn’t going to let some dumb text from someone he didn’t know change everything.

* * *

 

Darcy started at her phone, a little ashamed of just how many texts she had sent in a row. She should have stopped after “I’m sorry” to see what, if anything, Fitz said. But instead she had practically sent him a novel. _My name’s Darcy, by the way. It was feeling a bit uneven, knowing your name and you not knowing mine. You’re probably right that we’re not in the same place, now that I think about it. I’m at Culver, btw. If you’re ever here, you can still hit me up for tacos. I feel like I owe you after I probably woke you up the other night and then just disappeared._

Why was she like this? Who cared whether or not a random wrong number was mad at her? Who cared if they ever responded? Darcy sighed and thrust her phone under her pillow so she couldn’t keep staring at it. She had taken two days to say anything to him; it wasn’t like he owed her an immediate response. She pulled out her books and got back to studying, but her mind kept wandering back to her phone. She sat on top of her pillow and grabbed her iPod, shoving the headphones into her ears and turning the music up. Maybe she could drown out her thoughts.

She couldn’t, it turned out, so she went to the kitchen. She’d make some bread. Time was nicely segmented when you made bread. She could knead out her annoyance at herself and use the rise time to study. She wouldn’t look at her phone again until she had a fresh slice a bread in her hand. And then, if he hadn’t responded, well, carbs made lots of things better. She hoped that list included texts (or lack thereof) from people she didn’t even know. 

* * *

 

Fitz had ignored the texts for several days. They just sat there, unopened, while he tried to pretend they didn’t exist. But then the weekend came around and he couldn’t fill his time up enough to keep his attention from wandering back to them. Professor Lim had agreed to let him work on his gun instead of the assigned class work, but even his Bondish palm scanner couldn’t keep him from reaching for his phone in the late hours of Friday night. He opened the string of texts and was surprised how many there were. He had to scroll back up to see them all. He felt kind of like a heel seeing all of Darcy’s texts. She hadn’t intentionally been rude, but he had.

_Sorry for my own late response,_ he sent. _School has been a bit crazy for me as well._ He wanted to wait, to see if she would say anything else, but his fingers itched to say more. Apparently Darcy was up too, though.

_SO get that. Whatcha studying?_

This he could do. _Engineering. You?_ He grabbed his laptop and moved over to his bed.

_Political Science. Well, today anyway._ He was going to respond, but he saw she was still typing, so he waited, instead pulling up plans for the palm scanner to see if he could figure out where the flaw was in his circuitry.  _I have this problem of getting sidetracked. Every time I think I have my major figured out, I take another class and am suddenly in love with something new._

He could relate. That’s why he was studying “engineering” and not mechanical or chemical or electrical. He wanted it all. He couldn’t make himself settle. He was lucky the Academy allowed him to do so. (It didn’t hurt that he could dance circles around most of the others in his classes.) _I think I know what you mean_ he replied.

_My mom says I have commitment issues, but really I would commit to all of it if I could._

_Tell her you’re just becoming very well rounded,_ he shot back. _It worked for me_. He thought back to the day Professor Storgram had shown up at his mother’s house to recruit him. He was only 18, but he already had completed two undergrads and was halfway done with his first masters. Storgram had asked  him what he would focus on at the Academy and he told him he wouldn’t. He would keep studying it all or not come. The real world didn’t care if he wanted fifteen degrees, and if SHIELD was going to throw a fit about it, then he wanted nothing to do with them. Besides, they’d come crawling back eventually anyway. The had done so with Tony Stark, and he was certainly in line to be nearly that smart with less of the ego.

_You know, most guys would latch onto me having commitment issues, but you just rolled right past that to solid advice._

He snorted at her reply. _I think you overestimate how much the average college aged male cares about commitment. They jut say they care to get you to put out._ He knew that wasn’t totally true, but it certainly wasn’t completely wrong either. Besides, she had been the one to take their perfectly fine conversation about academic promiscuity and turn it into something else.

_Warn a girl, Fitz_ she chided. _I just spit my coffee out laughing. You don’t pull punches, do you?_

He took a moment to read back over their exchange and realized that no, it had actually been _him_ that had moved them out of academic talk. He groaned. What an idiot. _I prefer tea. For the record._ There. That should be safe enough.

_Tea and tacos if we ever meet up, then_ she replied. He smiled. 

* * *

 

Darcy and Fitz had fallen into an easy friendship based on knowing nothing and somehow everything about each other. She had confided in him that her roommates had gone from being some of her best friends to being people she could barely stand to be around. The never cleaned and expected her to cook for them all the time. They were treating her like their personal maid and chef instead of their friend. So while she had really enjoyed baking and sharing with everyone, she slowly came to resent it. Fitz had encouraged her to not let them ruin things that she loved simply because they felt entitled to her skills. She had returned the favor when he had complained that classmates only seemed to like him for his notes. She had asked if he had ever asked them to do something social, and when he said he hadn’t, she pointed out that maybe they thought he wasn’t interested in being friends. The drunk texts she had received a few nights later had made her own night in cramming for a test much better.

_I’m thinking about doing something crazy,_ she sent him one day that was more like winter weather but the calendar said was Spring. _I’m considering applying for an internship in the middle of nowhere._ She had the flier for Dr. Foster’s internship opportunity in her bag. She had found it under several layers of fliers. None of the little information strips had been removed.

_Are you actually interested in it or running away from something?_  he shot back. He didn’t always respond immediately, but the silence no longer felt as loud as it did when they were first getting to know each other.

_Both?_   She finally decided. _I’m trying to just get off campus and away from, well, everything. BUT, I’m also kinda interested in seeing how a female scientist deals with the sexism you know is there_.

_And the material?_ he prodded. _Are you interested in what she’s studying?_

She chewed on her lip a little. _I’m not not interested. I mean, who doesn’t love the stars?_

She could hear him sighing from wherever the fuck he was. After that first exchange, he had never offered up a location, and she never asked. It didn’t matter anyway. He was wherever he was, and that place wasn’t Culver. He could have been an hour or seventeen hours away and he wouldn’t have been any closer.

_Don’t go if you don’t like what she’s studying,_ he finally said. _You’re going to have to eat, breathe, live her research_. She hadn’t considered what being an intern in the middle of nowhere included, beyond getting out of Virginia and away from.... Maybe she should be honest with Fitz about all of it.

_There’s also this guy,_ she started. _I’ve tried breaking up with him? But he doesn’t seem to take no for an answer. Like...about anything._ She didn’t want to go into more detail, but she was pretty sure she didn’t have to. She knew Fitz would be able to read between the lines.

_Do you need me to vaporize him? I have been working on this machine that isn’t functioning totally right yet. I could test it on him._

Laughter bubbled from her lips. _Thank you, but no. That would raise to many questions._

_You doubt my ability to make it look like an accident?_ was his quick reply. _They would never trace anything back to you._

Darcy smiled. _I’d never doubt you_ she said, finding she meant it. Besides, what was the point in lying to her? They’d never met and he could never respond again if he felt like it.

_Go,_ he said. _Take your internship in the middle of nowhere and let me know if you change your mind about the vaporizing._  

* * *

 

_It’s so pretty here. Wish you could see it._

For once, he was sleeping when the text came. He glanced at the other person in his bed, wondering if the soft buzzing had awoken her too, but she was still asleep. He grabbed his phone and ducked his head under the covers to keep the light from his screen from waking her.

_There’s no light pollution. You can see so many stars here._ He smiled. Darcy had been at her internship for a few weeks. The start had been hard, but she had settled in nicely. He felt a bit bad that he had used her name and college to figure out that she was interning for Dr. Jane Foster in the deserts of New Mexico when she hadn’t volunteered that information herself, but he had been worried after her confession about her ex-boyfriend.

_I wish I was there too. It sounds lovely. I haven’t seen the stars-really seen them-in ages._ He thought back to his mother’s house in the countryside. When he was little they would stay up late to watch meteor showers. He hadn’t done anything like that in years.

_Go to sleep, Fitz. I know I woke you up._

_You do not,_ he countered. _Perhaps I was having lots of energetic sex with my girlfriend._

_You have a test tomorrow,_ she replied. _So even if you had sex, you kept it to a reasonable hour and should be sleeping now. Goodnight friend._ He knew she wouldn’t respond to him again, even if he tried to keep up the conversation, so he just told her goodnight and slid his phone back on the table and went back to sleep.

The next morning he got out of the shower and saw Madeline with his phone in her hand. “Who’s Darcy?” she asked. Her face was impassive, which he knew was a bad sign.

“A friend,” he said. He wanted to ask why she was messing with his phone at all, but that would sound suspicious.

“Why don’t I know her?” Madeline’s tone was flat.

“Because she doesn’t go here,” he said. It seemed to be the right response because Mad’s face relaxed the tiniest bit. She tossed the phone to him.

“She was texting you while you were in the shower.” Ah. That explained it then. At least he wouldn’t need to change his password, though he might anyway, just to be safe. He took the phone and slid it into his pocket without checking the messages.

“While I’m sure she had something riveting to say, I’d rather kiss you some more before I have to leave.” He slid up to her, snaking his arms around her waist and pulling her close.

“I can’t,” she said, pulling away and not sounding all that sad. “I need to meet my group before our presentation.” Fitz let his arms drop as she grabbed her bag. “I’ll text you later?”

“Sounds good,” he said, but he felt a knot in the pit of his stomach. They usually made more concrete plans and she never left without a kiss.

Once she was out the door, he looked at the messages from Darcy. _Good luck on your test! Can’t wait to hear how you aced it._ He couldn’t figure out why those texts would matter to Madeline, but he couldn’t help but feel like they were the reason he was about to be single.

_Thanks!_ he sent immediately. Then, after a moment of hesitation, _Mads was weird about seeing your texts pop up while I was in the shower._

_Shit,_ she quickly replied. _I’m so so sorry Fitz. I didn’t think wishing you luck would cause any problems._

_Neither did I_ , he said. _It’s fine, she was just okay in bed anyway._

_Can you hear me rolling my eyes and shoving you from all the way out here?_ she shot back. _And I know you really liked her. It wasn’t just about sex._

_No. It wasn’t,_ he agreed. _But I’m also not that heartbroken over it._

_Because she wasn’t Jemma_. He shook his head. Of course she saw through him.

_Because she wasn’t Jemma_ he agreed. 

* * *

 

Darcy let out a small whine as her phone and iPod disappeared into a box that this government asshat was rapidly filling with all of their shit. “I promise everything we can return will be returned as soon as possible,” the agent in the suit said. She didn’t like how his phrasing made it clear that not everything would be returned if they decided they didn’t want to give it back. She went to Jane, pulling the woman into a tight hug. All Darcy had at stake was losing her credits and having to buy a new phone. Jane stood to lose her entire life’s work.

“Plus side, they must want it because you’re onto something?” she said, trying to cheer her friend up.

“So help me if those dickwads fuck up any of my machines or steal my hard work,” Jane growled.

“Will it make you feel better if I hack them?” Darcy asked.

Jane stopped and looked at her. “Can you do that?”

Darcy smiled. “Why don’t we take a walk to the library since we don’t have any computers here and see.”

At the library, Darcy made quick work of sending a text to Fitz that something was going down and she’d be out of touch before starting the process of hacking SHIELD. While she was at it, she accessed her picture of Thor from her cloud and hacked the DMV to make him a driver’s license. That might or might not pay off later, but while she was contemplating the current firewall, it gave her fingers something to do. She smiled as the firewall gave way and considered her options.

When SHIELD finally returned everything, Agent Coulson pulled Darcy aside. “How did you do it?” he asked.

“Do what?” she asked, unsure which thing he meant.

“The ID. It was a fake but had no markers of a fake.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she replied, hoping he would just hand over her stuff already and this wasn’t some sort of ease in to asking about the small virus she had put into their systems.

“We can always use good people, Miss Lewis,” he said handing her phone over.

She snorted. “You mean good people to steal the hard work of others and then tell them they can’t publish it even though they are literally on the cutting edge of a major breakthrough? Yeah, no thanks.”

“I thought you might say that,” he said, his lips twitching up the tiniest bit. “Keep us in mind anyway, Miss Lewis.” He handed her his card and turned before she could reply.

“What about my iPod?” she yelled. When he just kept walking, she thought about yelling some more, but decided it probably would just piss him off and make it even more unlikely she would get it back. Annoyed, she unlocked her phone to find a slew of messages from Fitz.

_Are you okay? What can I do? How can I help? I still haven’t gotten that transporter to work, but I’ll figure something out. Darcy. I’m serious. I’m worried. Please answer. If I don’t hear from you by Friday, I’m going to have my friend hack your phone to figure out where you are and I’m getting there._

_I’m fine!_ she sent quickly. _It’s okay. I signed like a metric ton of paperwork that says I can’t tell you anything about it, but I am good and fine. I promise._

_Tell me what your first text to me was_. She shouldn’t have been surprised that he not only immediately replied but also wanted to make sure it was her.

_I asked you to 2AM tacos_.

_I’m glad you’re okay. My friend was just getting ready to track you down._

_I love you too, Fitz._

* * *

 

The amount of relief that washed over him when Darcy finally responded was palpable. “She’s okay then?” Dylan asked. “You don’t need me to do anything?”

“She’s fine. Thank you,” Fitz said.

“So, is she like...someone you’re interested in?” Dylan prodded. “It’s just, you seemed pretty worked up because some chick didn’t respond to you for a couple days.”

“She’s one of my best friends,” Fitz replied, surprised to find it was true.

“But you don’t know where she is,” Dylan said, clearly skeptical.

“It’s not a conventional friendship,” he agreed, “but that doesn’t make it any less real.”

“Right. Sure,” Dylan said, pushing away from the computer. “I don’t get it, but cool.”

Fitz paid him no mind as he sat heavily in the chair next to where Dylan had been, looking at his phone. _You really scared me,_ he said.

_I was scared there for a bit too. But I came out of it okay. Someday when the NDA no longer applies, I am going to have stories to tell you_.

_Can’t wait_.

“You ready Fitz?” Jemma asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“Yeah, sure,” he said, putting his phone away.

“How’s Darcy?” she asked with a smile.

“Better now, I think.”

Jemma gave him a soft smile as they left the computer lab. “I’m glad,” she said. “You seemed really worried.”

“You don’t think it’s weird, do you?” he asked, “Having a friend that I’ve never met?”

“Of course not,” she said. Her tone made it seem final. He himself fall a little more in love with her for her answer. 

* * *

 

_How’s life in the lab?_ Darcy smiled. Fitz hadn’t found it odd at all that Darcy had kept on with Jane, choosing to finish up her degree online.

_It’s the lab. You know Jane._

She had sent Fitz a few pictures of Jane’s machines when she had made her stay more permanent, and he had about lost his mind at the use of duct tape and rubber bands keeping some of it together. She had reminded him that they had limited grant money so Jane had to make everything stretch. He had then suggested a few changes that had actually helped, so Jane was always happy to hear from Fitz, and even occasionally asked her to ask him for help with a machine.

_What’s she held together with tape today? Nevermind. I don’t want to know. I’m already stressed enough._

Darcy frowned. _Why are you stressed?_ As far as she knew, he didn’t have any tests until next week.

_Interview_

Well that was new. _I didn’t know you had an interview! Good luck!_

_I didn’t know until today either. It’s in 20 minutes._

_So you’re stress texting me?_

She could imagine him nodding at her. Though, not really. They had never exchanged pictures, so she didn’t know what he looked like. Perhaps she could feel his presence nodding? Maybe that was a better way to describe it? _Simmons is laughing at me_.

_Maybe because she knows that you’re a genius and any place would wet themselves to have chance to do work with you._

_She said, “Yes. Exactly that. Tell her I know you’ll be fine because I was.”_

She snickered. Fitz and Simmons were practically a matched set. _Do YOU want whatever it is they’re offering?_

_I don’t know because they haven’t told me yet. But Simmons says it’s lab space for both of us to work together on some interesting projects._

_That sounds like a yes. Remind yourself that they want you. You didn’t even know about them. You have something they want. Make them prove they’re worth your time._

“Hey Darce?” Jane called. “I need another set of eyes on this,” she said behind one of the machines.

“Want Fitz to look?”

Jane’s head popped up from behind the metal monstrosity. “Is he available right now?”

Darcy nodded. “Killing time before an interview.” He could probably use a bit more distraction to lower his stress level.

“Perfect,” Jane said. “Send him a picture of this and ask what’s wrong with the wiring.” 

* * *

 

Fitz watched the screen in abject horror from inside his locked down lab. Simmons was beside him, holding his hand tightly. Once they had replied that they were safe and accounted for, they had been given guns and locked in their lab without any explanation. But now they knew why as they watched aliens pour from the sky over New York.

_Please tell me you’re okay._ He fumbled to unlock his phone. _I don’t know where you are and I’m I’m so worried, Fitz._

_I’m safe,_ he replied immediately. He almost said fine, but that would have been a lie. _Where are you? Are you okay?_

_Norway. Jane got an opportunity here right before everything went nuts._ He let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding. _Honestly it’s a little suspicious for reasons I can’t talk about._

“Is Darcy okay?” Jemma asked.

He nodded. “She’s in Norway apparently.” He paused a moment. “You always know when it’s her. How is that?”

Jemma looked at him quizzically for a moment, and he didn’t understand why. “It’s just obvious, Fitz. Your whole body changes.” She paused. “Oh my goodness, you didn’t know.”

“Know what?” he asked, his eyes searching her face.

She gave him a soft smile. “Nothing, Fitz. You just didn’t realize you have a smile that’s just for her. That’s all. Tell her I’m glad she’s safe.”

_Jemma says she’s glad you’re safe._

_I’m glad you’re both safe too._

He put his phone down and looked back at the television screen. “You know, I wonder if we could make something that would pierce that alien skin. We’d need something to put them down.”

“Oh yes!” Jemma said, excited. I’d be very interested in knowing more about their chemical makeup. They must be somewhat similar to us since they are not dying when coming into contact with our atmosphere, but they do seem markedly different.”

“You think we could reformat the night-night gun to shoot something that would work?”

“We’re not calling it that, but yes, maybe. Did you ever get the palm reader working?”

Fitz frowned. It was a sore point. “Working? Yes. Thin enough to work with the gun? No.”

Jemma stood. “Watching this won’t get us any closer. Let’s get to work.”

They worked for several hours prototyping different rounds in a slightly larger gun since the ammo needed to be somewhat bigger. Before they decided to try and sleep, Fitz sent one more message. _Take a picture of the sky for me? I bet it’s beautiful there_.

* * *

 

The lab was nearly set up when Agent Coulson dropped by. “Fitz? A word?” He looked over at Jemma who nodded, so he took off after his boss.

“Sir?”

The man said nothing until they were inside his office. “Shut the door?”

“Have I already done something wrong?” he asked, unclear why he was being pulled into a closed door meeting before they even got off the ground.

“Not at all,” Coulson said gesturing for him to take a seat. “I was curious about a friend of yours.”

“Sir?”

“How do you know Darcy Lewis?” He had figured out her last name by following Dr. Foster’s career. Darcy had been thanked in the notes of her last paper. But even though he knew it, he had never said anything, and he had never heard her full name spoken aloud.

“We’re friends,” he said, unclear what Coulson wanted to know.

“But _how_ did you become friends?”

Fitz fidgeted in his seat a little bit. “I was a wrong number,” he mumbled.

“What?” Coulson asked, clearly confused.

“A wrong number, sir,” Fitz said more clearly. “She sent me a text by mistake.”

“And you what? Just kept talking?”

Fitz nodded. “Pretty much.”

Coulson leaned back in his seat. “How long ago?”

“My second year at the Academy.” Coulson raised his eyebrows but said nothing. “I’m sorry, but is it a problem, sir?” He hoped he wasn’t about to be told he couldn’t speak to her again.

“No problem,” he finally said.

“Then why did you ask?”

“Because you can’t tell he who you work for.”

Fitz’s brow crinkled. “I know. I haven’t told her anything.”

“No, I mean you can’t use my name when you talk to her.”

“Sir?”

“She thinks I’m dead.”

Fitz was sure the way his snapped together must have made a sound. “You’ve met her?” Coulson nodded. “I…but…” He floundered for what to say; what to ask. “What’s she like? In person?”

“As sassy as you imagine,” Coulson said. “She still wants this back.” He slid a box across the desk to Fitz. Inside was a well worn iPod.

“Is this?”

“Hers? Yes. I had to confiscate it. There was a handy little program on there that deleted all sorts of files when my techs tried to open it. Luckily, they were able to restore everything.”

“But why not give it back to her?” he asked, turning it over in his hand.

“Because I thought it might make good leverage someday.”

Fitz looked up at him. “I assume it still could?” He didn’t understand why he had the device.

“I think you should have it,” Coulson said before turning to his laptop. “Now you should probably get going. Simmons will be mad if she has to do all the jobs you two have been putting off on her own.”

Fitz grasped the iPod and left. He didn’t have a clue why Coulson would give it to him instead of returning it. And when had he met Darcy? It must have been whatever she couldn’t talk about in the desert with Dr. Foster, but that just raised more questions.

_I swear to the stars that I am never going to be warm again_.

_Norway can’t be that bad._

_You have no idea Fitz. There aren’t even any cute guys to cuddle up with._

_If I had an address, I’d send you one of my sweaters. Best I can do_.

He was surprised to get an address in response. 

* * *

 

“Darcy, I think we need to talk about this,” Jane said.

“About what?” Darcy asked around a mouthful of ice cream.

Jane waved her spoon-hand to gesture over both of them. “Us. This. I think…I think we’re moping.”

Darcy stuck her spoon into the pint and grabbed her wine bottle with the extra long crazy straw. “Thor’s doing whatever the fuck it is he’s doing, and we’ve stalled a bit on making our own bridge,” Darcy said before slurping her wine a bit. “A bit of a wallow is fine, I think.”

Jane took a swig from her own wine bottle. “That’s why _I’m_ wallowing. I think we should talk about why _you_ are.”

“Solidarity,” Darcy said as she scooped some more ice cream.

Jane gave her an unimpressed look. “You’ve worn that sweater for four straight days and it isn’t even cold.”

“So?” Darcy asked, but she already knew there was no avoiding what was coming next.

“So Fitz sent it to you when we were in Norway. Because you told him you were cold.”

“Uh huh,” Darcy said, hoping that if her mouth was full of ice cream she wouldn’t have to answer.

“Which is why I did something I need to apologize for,” Jane said, her eyes a little shifty.

“Jane…”

“It seemed like a good idea at the time?”

“What did you do?”

“I just hadn’t slept in nearly 48 hours…”

“Jane, tell me before I pour the rest of my wine on your head.”

“Check your phone,” Jane said, tossing it to her and wincing. She hadn’t even realized that Jane had had her phone. She unlocked it, wondering how she would know what it was Jane did, but it was obvious. Her messages to Fitz were open. Jane had sent him a picture of her, asleep at the lab earlier today. _This is Jane,_ she had said. _I just thought you should know she hasn’t taken it off in days._

“Jane!” Darcy hissed. “I’ve never sent him a picture before!”

“Of course you have! You send him pictures of my machines all the time.”

“Of _me,_ you idiot,” she practically whined. “Oh my god, you sent that _hours_ ago and he hasn’t responded.”

“He hasn’t seen it yet either,” Jane said, but Darcy could tell she felt bad.

Darcy locked her phone and threw it on the couch next to her. “But why?”

Jane took a sip of wine before responding. “You’ve been texting him almost every day for literal years. Every guy you’ve dated you’ve broken up with, and everything you say is wrong with them is a problem Fitz doesn’t have.” Jane sighed. “I’ve only read the texts you’ve let me see, but, honestly, I think you sabotage every other relationship because all you want is him.” She paused. “And also, we need to circle back to that whole you’ve never sent him a selfie thing too.”

Darcy sat for a moment and let Jane’s words soak into her slightly inebriated brain. “He’s in love with someone else,” she finally blurted out. “Jemma. She’s brilliant and I assume pretty and works next to him day in and day out. Plus she’s really nice. Sometimes she’ll ask him to tell me things. I can’t hate her,and I can’t hate that she’s perfect for him.”

Jane put down her ice cream and joined Darcy on the couch, pulling her into a tight hug. “Is that why you’ve never sent him a picture?”

“I can’t compare,” Darcy whispered as the tears started to fall down her face.

“Girl, you are hot as hell,” Jane cooed into her hair as she held Darcy tightly and rubbed her back. “And you’re loyal, and damn good at managing me. You might not have a degree in BioChemistry, but you’re still an amazing person who is brilliant in other ways.” She started petting Darcy’s hair as she cried herself out. “I’m sorry I sent him that picture. I honestly thought he knew what you looked like. If you want, we can get you glammed up and I can send him another picture of you and say you’re going out on a hot date to make him jealous.”

Darcy laughed wetly into Jane’s shoulder. “Thanks, but not today.”

“Okay,” Jane agreed. “You just tell me when.” 

* * *

 

“Fitz?” Jemma called from the other side of the lab. “Did you know you have texts?”

“Oh?” he called, his head still bent over the schematics he was looking at.

“Who texts you besides us?” Skye asked.

That caught his attention. He looked up at Skye. “Err, no one,” he said, looking back down quickly.

“Oh, that doesn’t sound like no one,” Skye teased. “Who is it Jem?”

He was not going to look up. He was not going to engage. Maybe if he ignored this it would all just stop happening.

“It’s Darcy,” Jemma said conspiratorially, though loud enough that she knew he would hear it.

“Ohhh,” Skye practically hummed. “Who’s Darcy?”

Not. Going. To. Engage. He kept his eyes firmly on the blueprint, trying to find the weak point.

“Fitz’s friend,” Jemma said easily. “Probably his best friend.”

“I thought that was you,” Skye said skeptically.

“Certainly not if she keeps talking,” Fitz said before he could stop himself. “And more than one person can be a best friend.”

Skye turned her excited eyes on him. “So who is she? Is she cute?”

“I actually don’t know,” he admitted.

“How can you not know?” Skye asked at the same time Jemma said, “Wait, really?”

He could feel his face flushing with embarrassment. “I’ve never seen her.”

He heard both women gasp. “How is she your best friend, and you’ve never seen her?” Skye’s voice had practically raised an octave.

“You should be able to figure that out, hacker,” he snapped focusing on his work again.

“You met on the internet?!” Skye asked, delighted.

“Wrong number text,” Jemma corrected.

“Fitz!” Skye said, jumping off the table she was sitting on and coming around to his side. “That’s the cutest story ever!” She put her arm around his waist and he bristled a bit, but that didn’t deter her. “Tell me about her.” When he stubbornly refused to look at her, she added. “Really, I want to know. And, not because I want to tease. Honestly.” He looked at her, and she _did_ look earnest.

“She sent me a text meant for someone else and we just never stopped talking,” he finally said. “She asked my advice about taking an internship and I nearly hunted her down to vaporize a guy she was trying to get away from. Apparently he didn’t understand the word no.” He heard both women suck in a breath.

“Fitz, you never told me about that.”

“I didn’t think she wanted it to be common knowledge,” he said, brushing by that. “She helped me calm down whenever I got too stressed about anything.”

“She was the first person to text and ask if he was okay during the Battle of New York,” Jemma offered.

“She’s kind and loyal,” Fitz added. “And smart.”

Skye side hugged him before letting go. “She sounds really great.”

“You should maybe reply to her before she worries about you again,” Jemma said.

A knocking on the lab door startled all of them. “You done with those plans yet, Fitz?” Ward asked.

“Err, soon,” Fitz said, looking back at them. “I just need a few more minutes.”

“Well stop jabbering and finish up. We’re meeting in fifteen to go over the plan.” Ward left as quickly as he had entered.

He had quickly found what he had been searching for, and they all went up to brief. It was several hours before they were all back in the lab.

“Shit! Fitz! Darcy’s texts!” Skye said nearly half an hour after they had been back in the lab.

His eyes shot up from the circuit board he was playing with. “Read them to me?” he asked. “I really can’t stop what I’m doing right now.”

“Are you sure?” Skye asked. “I mean, that you want me to read them?”

“Jemma’s busy breaking apart that chemical. I trust you,” he said. He knew that she had been teasing him earlier, and now, with some space, he found that he wasn’t upset by it.

“I thought you said you didn’t know what she looks like,” Skye said.

“I don’t,” he said, focusing on the delicate wires.

“Well, that’s about to no longer be true.” His eyes shot up, the question obvious. “It’s apparently from Jane? Who’s Jane?”

“Jane’s her boss,” Fitz said. “And what do you mean it’s from Jane?”

Skye moved over to his bench. “The text says its from Jane and she wants you to know Darcy hasn’t taken something off in days? I assume you know what that means?”

Jemma had come up behind him as Skye turned the phone toward them so the could see the picture. It didn’t exactly give him a clear idea what she looked like. She was curled up on a table, her hair splayed around her face. She was wearing the sweater he sent her, and he forgot to breathe.

“Fitz, isn’t that _your_ sweater?” Jemma asked. “The one you told me you lost?”

He kept his eyes glued on the photo. “Yes,” he said. “It is.”

They were all quiet at that. He wasn’t sure how long they all stood there, frozen, but eventually Skye broke the silence. “What are you going to say?”

He looked between them, panicked. “I don’t know. What _should_ I say? If you were Darcy? What would you want to hear?”

“I’ve got you,” Skye said, tapping out a response before he could think to stop her. She turned the phone toward him so he could see her handiwork. _I’m sure that doesn’t smell like me anymore. Let me know if you need another._

* * *

 

After Jane’s text, Darcy thought she would die of embarrassment. But then he had replied, and she felt her heart skip. _It’s the best sweater,_ she had sent immediately. _It’s warm and cozy and makes me think of you._ She and Jane had finished their wine and ice cream, and now she was lying in bed wide awake and wondering what he would say next.

_I never had a set picture of you in my mind, but now every time you text, I’ll think of you in my sweater._

My sweater. _You_ in _my_ sweater. Was she reading too much into this? Probably.

_I’m not sure you can see me through all the hair._

_I see you, Darcy._ Well what was _that_ supposed to mean?

_We have an early start at the lab tomorrow_. She knew she was chickening out of following whatever this was, but her body was tired from the emotional upheaval it had gone through the past several hours.

_Sleep on something more comfortable than a lab table._

_I know you’re teasing me, you jerk._

_I speak from experience._

_Goodnight to you too, Fitz_.

She turned off her phone so she wouldn’t be tempted to keep talking if he replied again. She already had too much to think about. She didn’t need more fuel for the “is he flirting” fire. 

* * *

 

Fitz turned the iPod over in his hand. Ever since Coulson had given it to him he had been trying to decide what he should do with it. He had finally given up a week ago and asked Skye to figure out the passcode so he could open in. It had taken her several days before she handed it back, passcode written on a sticky note. “I want to meet her,” she had demanded. “There is some decidedly not standard software on there and I’d like to ask her about it.” She wouldn’t tell him any more than that. That had been two days ago, and he still hadn’t opened it. His fingers hovered over it, trying to decide if it was time. Like he had conjured her, his phone buzzed.

_Please don’t be in London. Please tell me you’re safe and not in London._

_I’m not in London_ , he said quickly. _What’s going on? I’m not near a TV. Are you safe?_

It was an agonizing seven minutes before she responded. _Good. Aliens. No._

He stared at his phone before bursting into action. He grabbed his phone, holding onto it so tightly that it would leave marks in his palm as he raced through the Bus to find Coulson. Ward had laughed at him when he pushed him out of the way, but Jemma had looked at the phone in his hand in concern, saying nothing as he rushed past.

“Sir!” he said, out of breath, “I think we need to go to London. Now.”

“Homesick?”

“I’m Scottish and no,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “It’s Darcy.”

Coulson’s demeanor shifted. “What about her?”

“She sent me a text that she’s in London, there are aliens, and she’s not safe.” He said it all as one quick breath and then looked at his phone, horrified. “And I forgot to respond.”

_I’m going to figure something out. I’ll get there._

“I’ll go talk to Agent May and see what she knows,” Coulson said. It wasn’t a yes, but it was something.

He left Coulson’s office and walked into the kitchen space. Jemma handed him a cup of tea.

“What has the science team so upset?” Ward asked when he wandered in, grabbing an apple.

“Just a rough day in the lab,” Jemma said, putting him off.

_Don’t come. Stay safe._ Ward looked between the two of them as Fitz checked his phone. _Please don’t make me worry for you too!_

“So that’s a bit suspicious,” Ward said conversationally. Wanna tell me what’s going on?

“A friend from our Academy days is having a bit of a problem,” Jemma said. The only reason she got away with the lie was because it wasn’t actually untrue.

“Ah,” Ward said, his attitude changing. “Can’t get his own weird science thing to work and had to call on some experts.” He took another bite of his apple and left.

As soon as he was gone, Jemma turned to him. “What’s wrong with Darcy?”

Instead of answering, he turned his phone so she could read the exchange.

Jemma grabbed his tea mug and started toward the lab. “Follow me. If we’re going to London, we need to be prepared.” He did as he was told. Once in the lab he sent, _Why are you asking of me something you aren’t doing yourself?_

* * *

 

Kissing Ian had been a mistake. Not a bit mistake, but a mistake nonetheless. He was nice and cute enough, but the mistake was that, even though it had been a heat of the moment decision, she had thought about someone else when she did it. Ian himself had been pretty cool about the whole thing, agreeing that one kiss does not a relationship make. She thought he might have been thinking about someone else too. She had spent the days after the dark elves thinking about telling Fitz that she had kissed someone but had wished it had been him. She composed entire fake conversations. But, in the end, she hadn’t sent any of them. It wasn’t fair. While he might have been flirting with her before, she wasn’t certain that was the case. Besides,there was still Jemma to consider.

She went back to compiling data about the event so they could analyze everything. She knew that SHIELD had shown up, after the fact, unable to actually be of any use, because the program she had installed back in New Mexico updated her when there was a flight plan that came within 100 miles of them. She had told Jane, and they had decided to spend the day anywhere but near the site so SHIELD wouldn’t try to tie their tongues with paperwork again.

Her phone buzzed on the table.

_I thought turnabout might be fair play,_ the text read. She stared at it perplexed until a photo popped up. It was a man in a soft looking cardigan and button down passed out in a chair. His head was at an uncomfortable angle and his curly hair screamed for fingers to run through it. _This is Jemma, by the way._ The context suddenly made sense. This was _Fitz_. She had imagined him over and over again, but this was the reality. He looked very huggable. Definitely someone she could feel very cozy with.

_That looks uncomfortable. Should you move him?_

The reply was quick. _I didn’t want to wake him until I sent you this. Enjoy!_

She wondered what to make of the situation. The woman she knew him to be in love with was sending her cute pictures of him. She saw him asleep and thought of Darcy. What did that _mean?_   She put her phone to the side, turning off the sound so she wouldn’t be distracted while she made the mathematical model Jane would need for the next stage of her analysis.

Because of that choice, it was several hours before she saw his messages. _While Jemma was right that it was fair, I might kill her for sending you that. Why couldn’t she send something that makes me look halfway decent?_

She smiled at her phone. _Well now you know what I felt like._

He had sent his messages two hours ago, so she stretched and moved over to the kitchen to make a fresh pot of coffee and some lunch for both of them. She was slicing up an apple when she felt her phone go off again.

_You felt like it wasn’t a good picture?_

She stared at the text. _Obviously. I mean, I was asleep on a lab table._

_I rather liked it._

She put her phone down and picked the knife back up. What could she say to that? What did he _mean_ by that? She diligently sliced the rest of the apple giving herself time to think before before washing her hands and picking her phone back up.

_And I rather liked yours. Guess we’re even._

_Did Jane’s picture want to make you send a better one that made you feel less stupid? Because Jemma’s did for me._

_Yes. But then you were so nice about it, so I decided it didn’t matter. Have I not been nice enough? Do I need to tell you that I liked your sweater? Because I did. It looked good on you._ She hit send before she could talk herself out of it.

_You seem to have a thing for my sweaters. Are you already planning on stealing this one to wear?_

_You seem to have a thing for me in your sweaters,_ she shot back. _I don’t know where you are, so the only way I could get in that sweater is if you sent it to me._

_I think that would set a bad precedent_ , he replied. _I’d run out of sweaters quickly and the lab is always so cold._

Was he saying he’d send her all his sweaters just to see her in them? Was she over-thinking this? Oh god, was she taking too long to respond? _Can’t have you cold. So either you’ll have to keep your sweaters or we need to brainstorm some ways to keep you warm._ That could be read as either flirty or platonic, right? He could take it whichever way he wanted.

_What’s the most outlandish way you can imagine to keep warm?_

She frowned. So that was a platonic response, right? Lord she was terrible at figuring this stuff out. _Not properly fixing one of Jane’s machines and letting the resulting fire warm you._

_Please tell me she hasn’t been working with duct tape and paper clips again._

Right. Platonic it was. _Well, not exactly, but…_

* * *

 

Fitz looked at his phone. He thought that they had been flirting, but somehow the conversation had changed into one about Jane and her latest machine mishap. Though, perhaps that had been his fault. He didn’t know what he was doing. Not just when flirting, but with Darcy. Over time, his feelings for Jemma has slowly slid from romantic to platonic. He loved her, but as friends; nothing more. Perhaps it was because she did nothing to encourage his attentions at all, or maybe it was because she seemed to get flustered every time Skye was around, and he realized she had never talked about any guy being attractive and had never dated anyone while they were at the Academy. But his stupid brain kept telling him that he should feel guilty about flirting with Darcy when he had been hung up on Jemma for so long.

He decided to find the woman and talk to her about it. Maybe that would take care of things.

She wasn’t in the lab, so she would either be in the kitchen or taking a nap in her bunk. He started in the kitchen, making a mug of tea. When she wasn’t there, and wandered toward her bed. He would just peek in and see if she was asleep. What he did not expect was to silently slide open the door to see Skye and Jemma kissing hungrily. He quickly closed the door, feeling bad about trespassing on a private moment.

“Hey Fitz,” Ward asked as he walked back to their lab, “you seen Skye?”

“Sorry, no,” Fitz said, his brain scrambling for a way to send Ward away from the two women. He knew Ward had a thing for Skye, but clearly it was not reciprocated. “Did you check to see if she was sparring with May?”

“I had not,” Ward admitted, patting him on the shoulder. “Good suggestion.” Fitz smiled at him and made his way back to the lab.

He spent the next hour working on updating the dwarfs and considering how to flirt with Darcy. He’d ask Jemma and Skye. They’d know how to help.

When they finally wandered back to the lab, Skye took a seat on an empty lab table and Jemma moved over to where her latest experiment was still running.

“Have a good nap?” Fitz asked.

“What?” Jemma said, her cheeks red.

“You weren’t here, so I assumed you took a nap.”

“Oh, um, yes,” she stammered. “I went to my bunk.”

Fitz looked at Skye. “Ward was looking for you, did he find you?”

“Oh, uh, no,” Skye said.

“He said he looked all over. Where were you?”

“He must have kept missing me,” she said, but it sounded a little like a question.

“You are both terrible liars,” Fitz said causing both women to look at him.

“What do you mean?” Jemma finally asked.

“I wanted to ask you something, so I went looking for you,” he admitted, feeling a bit bad about what he had done. “I thought I’d just check and see if you were asleep, and, well, you weren’t.”

No one said anything at first. “Err, what did you see?” Skye asked.

“I’m very happy for both of you,” he said. Both women looked at him for a moment, blushed, and then nodded.

“What was it you were coming to ask me about?” Jemma asked, her cheeks still a bit pink.

It was his turn to blush. “Oh...umm...I need help. Flirting. With Darcy?” He made a face, “I’m a disaster.”

“About time,” Skye said under her breath while Jemma clapped her hands delightedly.

“I thought you would never get around to admitting it,” she said happily.

“And I will help as soon as I go check on that program I was running on that weird signal,” Skye said, swinging her legs before jumping off the table.

“We’ll come with,” Jemma said brightly, and Fitz couldn’t help but smile at how eager his friend was to stay close to Skye.

When they got up to the computer running her program, It was nearly done. He watched in horror as the coded message was revealed.

Hydra.

Everything moved very quickly after that, but he took a quick moment to shoot Darcy a text, _Get somewhere safe and HIDE_ , before he scrambled into action. 

* * *

 

Darcy and Jane had taken Fitz’s warning to heart. They had left the lab, didn’t go back to the apartment, and had holed up in a B&B that Darcy had booked them under a fake name, paying cash. They had moved the bed in front of the door and hidden in the attached bathroom while Darcy did her thing to figure out what was going on.

“Holy fuck,” she whispered, turning her phone to Jane. “Things are going to get worse before they get better.”

“Should we be using your phone?” Jane asked. “Can the Nazis inside SHIELD track us with that?”

Darcy shook her head. “I found their little tracker and disabled it ages ago. I put it in some random person’s phone when we were in Albuquerque last.”

“But that person could be in danger now.”

“Only if whoever goes after them is incompetent. I put it in a man’s phone so that’s pretty clearly not us.”

“I might be more upset if I wasn’t thankful right now,” Jane admitted.

They sat in the shower, quietly watching the news update. “Darcy,” Jane said slowly, “Fitz warned us, right?” Darcy nodded. “And it was like two hours before we were able to track down the news, right?”

“Uh huh,” Darcy said, unsure where Jane was going with this.

“And you still had to do a little bit of hacking to get the full story, right?”

“Yes,” Darcy said, drawing out the word.

“So how did Fitz know so early?”

Darcy sat quietly, considering Jane’s question before taking a moment to do some searching with the information she had. She knew a handful of name parts, but if they all worked together, something should come up.

“Holy shit, he’s SHIELD,” she said.

“What?” Jane asked, snatching Darcy’s phone to look. “I mean, I’m kind of not surprised?” she finally said after staring at her phone for a long moment. “He’s a genius, right? Look what SHIELD tried to do to me and _did_ do to Erik. What it did to Tony Stark. I know I should be kind of weirded out that he’s been part of the system that has screwed us over so many times and apparently is full of Nazis, but...it’s Fitz?” Jane said, blowing out a breath. “He helps fix my machines and he warned you about this mess. I mean, it’s not like you told him you’re friends with Thor.”

“Is it weird this doesn’t weird me out like it should?” Darcy asked. “I mean I’m hiding in a shower in a bed and breakfast that has a creepy doll theme. I have bigger issues than where he works.”

Jane nodded. “We’ll freak out about it later.”

“Agreed,” Darcy said.

_Please be safe_ , she texted. 

* * *

 

“It’s sort of peaceful down here,” Jemma said.

“It is,” Fitz agreed, “but I have other places I’d rather be.” He moved to get into a more comfortable position when something poked him. He thrust his hand into his pocket and pulled out Darcy’s iPod. “Jemma,” he said slowly. “I might have the answer to our problem. There’s a small battery in here.” he turned it over in his hand, running his thumb over a scratch on the back. “You know, I never even unlocked it.”

Jemma took it from him. “Let’s do that first then,” she said softly. “We’ll take a quick look and then strip it for parts.”

“You don’t think it’s a bad idea? Shouldn’t we immediately get to working on getting out of here?”

“I think I’m too curious what’s on this damn thing to care,” she said, and he couldn’t tell if she was just saying that for his benefit. “You’ve been carrying it around for ages, and Coulson gave it to you for a reason. We should see if we can find out why.”

Fitz told her the passcode, and she sat next to his good shoulder, showing him the device. They scrolled through her playlists until he saw the reason Coulson had given it to him all those months ago.

“I’m not sure I should look while you scroll through this,” Jemma said, biting at her lip.

“You’re my best friend, Jem,” he said quietly. “Do this with me. Please.” He hoped she wouldn’t ask him to explain why he couldn’t look alone. He wasn’t even sure why other than he needed someone else to see it, whatever it was, to be able to tell him later it had been real when there was no longer any physical evidence.

They scrolled through the playlist together. It was clearly old, which he already knew, but he wasn’t sure how to handle that there were still a decent number of songs about longing and love. How long had Darcy felt that way about him? Did she still?

“I’m good,” he said finally, turning off the device and flipping it over to pry off the back. “Let’s get out of here.”

When it was finally time to blow the door, Fitz had already done the math. Only one of them was going to get air. “It’s got to be you, Jem,” he said. They were both crying, and it was amazing they could still understand each other through their choked up words.

“But you’re my best friend,” she sobbed.

“Yeah, well you’re a stronger swimmer than me. You’ll have a better chance. You’re my best friend too, but Skye will kill me if I don’t save you, so let me do this for her.” He trust the apparatus at her and then hit the charge before she could protest.

It felt like he was being punched hard in the diaphragm, and then he gulped in icy water and everything went black. 

* * *

 

Darcy and Jane had hopped B&Bs two more times before it seemed like the dust had settled and they could go back to the lab. Surprisingly, nothing seemed to have been ransacked. “We must not have been high enough on their list,” Darcy quipped, but it rang hollow even to her ears. She had sent a series of texts to Fitz begging to know if he was okay, but it had been crickets, and it was slowly eating away at her.

Her phone buzzed, and she jerked it out of her pocket excitedly only to see a number she didn’t recognize. She paused a moment before opening the text. _I’m not supposed to contact you, but I can’t not. Not after what he did for us._ Darcy could feel the tears start to burn her eyes. “What he did” sounded awfully final.

_Who is this?_

_Skye_ , was the quick response. _Jemma’s girlfriend? I don’t know if Fitz ever told you that. Probably not. He found out himself right before, well, everything._

Darcy was so full of different emotions she didn’t know what to do. Skye was still talking like he was dead, but she wanted to laugh because apparently Jemma was with Skye and not Fitz.

_He’s not good_. Darcy’s heart skipped a beat. Not good meant still alive.

_Not good is better than the dead I was imagining._

_Oh shit! Yeah. It kinda reads like that. I see that now. I think Jemma would be laughing if it weren’t for everything else._

Very not good then if Jemma couldn’t laugh about this. _What happened?_

_Someone we thought was a friend was a traitor. He dropped Fitz and Jemma to the bottom of the ocean in a container they couldn’t get out of._ Darcy felt her stomach roll at how not good didn’t seem to cover just how not good it was. _But they’re smart, right? So they figured something out. But there was only air for one person, and he made Jemma take it because he wanted her to be alive for me._ She was crying now, enough that it blurred her vision. She reminded herself that he wasn’t dead. _Jemma pulled him up with her, but he swallowed a lot of water and was without oxygen for a while._ She rubbed at her eyes to make sure she could see what Skye said next. _He’s in a medical coma, and there might be brain damage. I’m so sorry Darcy._

Darcy tried to respond, but her fingers were too slick with tears. She rubbed them hard against her jeans and tried again. _Don’t be sorry. That’s not what he would want. He did this for you two, so appreciate him and respect his decision. He knew the consequences. He’s too smart to have not known._

_Hold on. Jemma wants to talk to you._ Darcy took a deep breath to calm herself. _Darcy, I want to tell you something, but before I do, I need to know how you feel about Fitz._

How did she feel about Fitz? What kind of loaded question was that? _Up until 10 minutes ago, I thought he was hung up on you._ It wasn’t really an answer, so she expected the response she got.

_I doubt that plays into your own feelings._

She sighed and shifted in her chair. _I like him. A lot._ If she was being honest, she _c_ ould love him, given the chance. But she wasn’t willing to be that open an vulnerable with Jemma. Not right now, anyway.

_He had your iPod. I can’t tell you how he got it, though I do know. Right before we got out of the container, he opened it and found your playlist._

Of all the things Jemma could have told her, she never expected that. _I don’t know what to do with that information._ She really didn’t. Besides the obvious questions about how and why he had it, she also wondered what he had thought about it. She had made that playlist well before she had admitted the truth to herself, but she remembered most of the songs on it. She had even partially recreated it on her phone.

_You don’t have to do anything. I just wanted you to know._

Darcy softly banged her head against the back of her chair. What the hell was she supposed to do now? 

* * *

 

Fitz practically threw the screwdriver on the bench in frustration. His finger and his mind refused to connect properly. Jemma was leaving later that day, and his frustration was only making things harder.

“Hey Fitz,” Skye called softly from the lab door. “You want to come with me? I wanna show you something.”

He looked at the mess of parts covering his table and sighed. It wasn’t like he had been getting anything done anyway. Wordlessly he joined Skye at the door and then followed her down the hall to her room. Inside Jemma was waiting for them. She looked up and smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Skye pushed him over onto the bed.

“I’m not looking to join you two,” he said to cut the odd tension running through the room.

Skye snorted. “Well that’s good because otherwise our gift for you would be awkward.”

He perked up a bit at the mention of a gift. “Oh?” he asked.

Jemma handed him a box from beside her on the bed. He both appreciated and hated that all he needed to do to open it was lift off the lid. Inside was a phone. He looked at both of them, confused. “I already replaced my phone.”

“This one is special,” Jemma said, taking it from him and turning it on. “It uses a fingerprint scan to open,” she went on. He had been having difficulty with entering the passcode on his new phone and they both knew it. Jemma carefully took his hand and unlocked the phone. “And this is the number we gave to Darcy,” she said, not looking at him. He had refused to text her since he had woken up. He was a broken mess, and he didn’t know how to even start telling her about what had happened and how he was different— less— now.

“We talked to her when you were in your coma,” Skye said, cutting to it. “She knows what happened. And then, as soon as you woke up, we got this phone and gave her the number. She knows you won’t respond to it, but she’s been texting anyway.”

“We thought it was time you knew,” Jemma said, placing the phone in his palm and wrapping his fingers around it. “You don’t have to reply to her. She has no expectation of a response.”

“We just thought it was time,” Skye finished. Both of them looked at him expectantly.

“What do you mean she knows?” he asked, his voice trembling just a little.

“I started talking to her as soon as you were stable. From my own phone,” Skye said. “I can show you the texts if you want. But I— we— told her everything. She knows what happened to you. She knows what your recovery has been like.”

“I told her about the iPod,” Jemma blurted out. He felt himself stiffen at her words. “She made you a new playlist,” Jemma added, softer. “Skye put it on there for you when you’re ready for it.”

He looked between the two women, his hand tightening around the phone. He found he was curious what Darcy had been saying for the past six weeks; what the playlist sounded like now. “Thank you,” he finally said. Both women relaxed a bit at this. “I didn’t know how to tell her, where to start, and you’ve done it for me already.”

“I’m sure she’ll want to hear it in your own words when you’re ready to tell her,” Jemma said, pulling him in for an awkward hug. “I have to finish packing.” He hugged her back, and then she slipped out of the room. He stood to go as well, but Skye stopped him with a soft hand on his shoulder.

“This is me starting to pay you back,” she said softly. “You gave me Jemma. You saved her. This is just the start. I can’t do enough to thank you for what you did for us,  but I can try.” She pulled Fitz in for her own hug that was less awkward because they were both standing. When she let go, he didn’t know where to go. He needed to be alone when he checked those messages, so he went to his own room, locked the door, and sat down on the bed, his back against the headboard.

For several minutes he just sat there, turning the phone over in his hand, trying to prepare himself to open it. Eventually he gave upon being prepared and simply unlocked it.

_I’ve never been more scared than when you didn’t text me back after telling me to hide._

_I figured out you were SHIELD, btw_

_Don’t ask how._

_But that means a lot of stuff I haven’t been telling you I could have._

_I work with Dr. Jane Foster. That’s my Jane._

_We were there when Thor first came to Earth._

_That’s when SHIELD took my iPod._

_I miss son of Coul._

_He was the bland sort of badass you know is the most dangerous sort._

_When I told you to stay away from London, it’s because myself, Jane, et al were fighting the dark elves_

_We won, in case you didn’t know_

_Thanks, actually, to the tripods you helped us fix that one time_

_And then you told me to hide_

_And it was scary_

_And you didn’t respond_

_And Skye told me what happened_

_And Jemma demanded to know how I felt about you_

_And then she told me you had my iPod_

_I don’t know how you got it or why_

_But I think I’m glad you did_

_Because it makes this easier to say_

_Maybe it’s easy to say because I know you won’t respond_

_Fitz, I like you_

_A lot_

_You’re one of my best friends_

_(You can’t be THE best, Jane would be pissed)_

_But, if you’d give me a chance, I’d like to be more than friends_

_You’re all I think about when I daydream_

_When I almost died because of aliens, I kissed someone in the heat of the moment_

_And I imagined it was you_

_And if this is too much pressure_

_Or you don’t feel this way_

_That’s fine._

_I can still be your friend_

_In fact, I *want* to still be your friend_

_Because you’re an amazing person_

_And I don’t want to lose you when I almost already did_

He closed the messages and found the playlist. He turned it on softly and let his mind drift. He wasn’t whole, but maybe Darcy wouldn’t mind. 

* * *

 

Darcy fiddled with her phone, debating sending yet another text into the void. She wasn’t hurt that he hadn’t responded yet. Jemma had explained to her what hypoxia was and how it had affected his fine motor skills and sometimes his ability to pick the right word. It had to be frustrating as hell. And it probably made texting difficult.  But her updates from Jemma and Skye had all but dried up, and she was wondering how he was doing. It was possible she had scared him off with her confession, but someone would have told her if he wasn’t going to talk to her ever again. She hoped so, anyway.

Being back in New Mexico was nice. She had missed the dry heat and the sun, but there was more time for her mind to wander and to daydream because there was basically nothing to do in this town. She wandered to the kitchen to set the timer on their coffee maker so there would be a fresh pot ready for them tomorrow night before they went out to take readings.

She’d like to say she heard the car drive up, but she didn’t. She had been humming to herself, and it wasn’t like hearing cars was unusual. Even the opening of the door didn’t alert her. Jane had run to the hardware store to pick up some pieces to fix one of her machines. She kind of wished Fitz was answering just to show him what madness Jane was currently wrecking on her machinery. What did, finally, surprise her, was an accented male voice calling out, “Darcy?”

She turned around and saw two men standing just inside the door. She had no idea who the tall black man was, but there was no mistaking the other one. “Fitz?” she asked, practically glued to where she was standing.

“Is that my…” she saw his searching for the word, and that was what finally put her into motion.

“Sweater?” she asked, taking a step toward him. “Yes.” Another step. “Are you really here, or am I finally have a cliche desert mirage experience?”

“Here,” he said. The other man nudged him, and he finally took a step toward her.

She couldn’t help it. She started to cry. “I thought you wanted nothing to do with me. After what I said….” She cut off.

“Why would I cut you off?” he asked, his eyebrows knitting together. God his accent was doing things to her that didn’t totally fit with the teary mess she had become. “Darcy,” he said, her name almost plaintive. “How could you still want me when I’m…” he struggled for the word again.

“When you’re perfect?” she asked, a smile breaking out on her face. “I guess I’m just greedy like that.” They were finally standing in front of each other. He reached out and ran a shaking hand over her cheek. She turned into the touch, closing her eyes for a moment. “Are you really here?” she asked softly.

“Yes,” he said, swallowing hard.

“Then I’m going to have to kiss you unless you tell me not to.” She searched his face fora moment before pressing her lips to his. Her arms wound around his neck as his tentatively went to her waist before pulling her tight against him and intensifying the kiss, only pulling apart when they were both in need of air.

“I think you’ve got this covered, Turbo. I’ll wait outside,” his friend said.

“He’s going to tease me nonstop,” Fitz groused, shooting a look over his shoulder at the retreating man. He turned back to Darcy, his arms still possessively tight around her. “It’s nice to finally see you.”

“I agree,” she said. “Also nice to finally kiss you.”

He leaned his forehead against hers and gave a soft, happy sigh. “I agree.”

“Hey, who’s here?” Jane called from the back door, causing them to jump apart. “I saw a car when I was coming in.” Jane rounded the corner and stopped, looking at the two of them, her eyes wide. “Fitz?”

“Nice to meet you Dr… Dr…Dr.Foster.” He seemed annoyed that it took him three tries to get her name. Darcy grabbed his hand and squeezed it.

“You know what? This is actually good,” Jane said. “I could use some help with Freddie, you know, the one you helped me with like five months ago.”

Darcy rolled her eyes, and Fitz laughed. “Should I tell your friend he can come back in now?”

Fitz nodded and kissed her on the cheek.

She didn’t ask how long he could stay or how he got there, or any of the other hundred questions swimming around her head. Instead she just allowed herself to enjoy that he was here now. They’d work out the details later. (Preferably after some more kissing.)


End file.
